Reclassification and distribution patterns of discovered oils in theDongying Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China

The Dongying Depression is an important petrolifeous province,with diverse source rocks and complex petroleum distribution patterns.A total of 32 crude oils were analyzed by the gas chromatographyemass spectrometry and isotopic compositions to better understanding the petroleum systems in the study area.Three oil types were classified by hierarchical cluster analyses.Type I and II oils have closely correlation with the discovered source rocks,which have been confirmed to be mainly derived from the lower third and upper forth member of the Eocene Shahejie Formation source rocks(Es3^(L) and Es4^(U)),respectively.Obviously,type III oils contain abundant gammacerane,tricyclic terpanes and C_(29) steranes and have lower values of δ13C than type I and II oils,indicating a completely different source rock and biological origins.Until recently,type III oils fail to match any of the discovered source rock,which contains main contribution of aquatic organism or/and bacteria inputs.In addition,the spacial distribution of these three oil types were discussed.Type I oils mainly distributed in the Es3 and Es4 reservoirs that closed to the generative kitchens.Type II oils occurred in the Es4 reservoirs in the sourthern slope of the depression,which probably caused by lateral migration along the horizontal fractures and sandstone layers within the Es4 interval.Differently,type III oils in the sourthern slope of the depression were mainly discovered in the Eocene Kongdian or Ordocician reservoirs,which suggests great exploration potential of deep underlying strata.

Characteristics and origin of low-organicmatter carbonate source rocks in the Middle-Upper Ordovician, Tarim Basin, northwestern China

The continually-discovered large volumes of marine hydrocarbons indicate a huge exploration potential within the carbonate rocks of Ordovician in the Tarim Basin,northwestern China.The Middle-Upper Ordovician(O2+3)carbonate source rocks are at a highly mature stage.These rocks presently contain a low amount of total organic carbon(TOC_(pd)≤0.5%)(TOC_(pd) means the present-day TOC).A mass balance approach is used to identify the source rocks that have expelled hydrocarbons.The characteristics and origin of hydrocarbon expulsion from low-TOC_(pd) source rocks are studied,which are significant for oil exploration in the basin.The results showed that a low-TOC_(pd) O2+3 source rock having expelled hydrocarbons was type I and had a very narrow oil window.With a high rock maturity and a high original TOC(TOCo)value exceeding 1%,nearly 80%of the generated hydrocarbons were expelled.The content of gammacerane and C28 steranes in the oil and source rock extracts were relatively lean,with a V-shaped distribution of regular steranes,suggesting a possible genetic relation between the low-TOC_(pd) source rocks and the marine oil in the Tabei area.Hydrogenrich planktonic algae or acritarchs were the main hydrocarbon parent materials,distributed in the subsiding platform-slope facies.Organic matter was preserved under reducing conditions,and source rocks were formed with a favorable kerogen type and a moderate hydrocarbon generation potential.This study illustrates the hydrocarbon expulsion of low TOC_(pd) source rocks in northern Tarim Basin,which is greatly significant for analyzing the genesis of marine crude oil in Tarim Basin,and evaluating the distribution of marine source rocks.This research method is theoretically significant for oil and gas exploration in the same type of highlymature carbonate paleobasins.